Assignment 3 Group Blog Project Week 13: The new reality or fiction: Contemporary Photography

Alterations are not allowed in press photography, but they are one of the tools used in contemporary art photography? Why?

·         Be accurate

·         Resist manipulations and staging photos

·         Do not pay sources

·         Avoid presenting one’s biases work (NPPA, 2011)

These are the Code of Ethics that press photographers must follow but these rules do not apply to contemporary art photographers. The benefits of being a contemporary art photographer, is the freedom that it brings. Contemporary photographers are able to use a series of tools to create the beauty and diversity of people and nature. They may try to portray intuition and hope in their photos. They may also try to make photographs that “…can take you outside of yourself…” to make you see things in a new perspective.  (In Liquid, 2010) Contemporary art photographers have the freedom of manipulating their photos. They also have the capability to add or remove objects, subjects and backgrounds to their photographs. The objects, subjects and backgrounds can be staged or positioned, so that it can look a certain way in a photograph. Having the ability to do this allows these photographers to give their photos character. They can create fantasy like the works of Robert and Shanna ParkeHarrison or portray nature in a new light like in the works of Robert Adams. Their work can be biased, it can look odd, or pleasant, they may have models who even pose in their photographs; these are some of the flexible conditions that contemporary art photographers work under. The reason why they use a variety of tools is to convey the emotions, feelings, expressions, thoughts, and perceptions that the photographer would like to present to their audience. (Matthew Marks Gallery, 2011)

By Shevanna Bennett

Frederick Sommer,four skinned and discarded coyotes.jpg

 http://www.fredericksommer.org/index.php?category_id=11&gallery_id=126

Mark Klett, Looking Through the Snow Tunnel Above Goat Lake, Sawtooth Range.jpg

 http://collections.mocp.org/info.php?page=0&v=1&s=Klett%2C+Mark&type=browse&t=objects&f=maker&d=

Robert Adams, Signal Hill, overlooking Long Beach, California.jpg

 http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/robert-adams/selected-works/#/images/8/

"Architect’s Brother" by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison

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Now on view in Zürich are the latest works by contemporary artist Vik Muniz in an exhibition appropriately titled Pictures of Garbage.

Gregory Crewdson 
"There is so much going on in this image, but I think what makes it for me is the drama. All you need to do is see the lady sitting there to know something has happened, but what? It leaves you with a thirst for more, like an exciting end to a chapter; do you keep reading even though it is 1 am or wait for another time to find out why? I like the perfections in the distraction, it’s not neat and tidy but everything is where it should be. Nothing is out of place. I like that everything has been thought through." (Para.1)

Compare photographs of Sommer, Adams and Klett versus  Parkeharrison, Muniz

and Crewdson.

A major similarity between the photographs of Sommer, Adams and Klett and photographs of Parkeharrison, Muniz and Crewdson is that many of their photos are in black and white, and they all use alternations for their photographs. However, Sommer, Adams and Klett play role in press photography and their photographs are more of realistic which are all in black and white compare to Parkeharrison, Muniz and Crewdson who are more of art photographers where their photographs are about fiction and are mostly colored. Sommer’s photographs are generally about nature and real stories and most of his images give details of death and injuries. Sommer is also very talented in drawing, painting, collage, poetry and prose. The photograph above explains four skinned and discarded coyotes which are missing their ears because ears had to be submitted as proof to collect bounty. Adams also focuses on the nature especially the beauty of it. Most of his photographs are beautiful cities, trees, buildings, as well as the four different seasons. He was interested in taking outdoor pictures. Similarly to Adams, Klett focused on the nature and his photographs give details of different landscapes. There is story behind every photograph of each photographer. Those stories make us feel certain way whether sad or happy. All their pictures remind us our different cultures and our nature. All their photographs give details of nature, culture, and history, and they all show the relationship between nature and human being. Robert Parkeharrison has put himself in his photographs and showing his view of reality. The photograph above shows Parkeharrison’s fixation which is control over nature. He liked to create his own reality in his photographs, although not everything in the photograph is fabricated, it still is a photograph which is a picture mimicking reality. Vik Muniz used a variety of mediums to display his view of reality. I found his photographs to be interesting and fascinating. “Muniz creates large scale replications of iconic Western images using refuse, food, dust, and more, and then photographing them from a distance before destroying the production and leaving only the photograph as the artwork. This labor intensive process abstracts the original images and creates a whole new platform for these icons to be considered, like the Mother and Child pictured above.” (Para. 1) Gregory Crewdson used a slightly different approach although his photographs were staged like Muniz’s photographs and were highly styled liked ParkeHarrison’s photographs he went to great lengths to ensure his photographs were real. Even though the story the photograph is trying to show us is obviously different, he tried to make the photographs more real in terms of their lighting, tones, color, etc that the viewer would almost be fooled in believing the photograph they are looking at is the real one and not altered. This is the greatest achievement in photography, pulling the person viewing the photograph into the world of the photograph itself. Look at the photograph above made by Crewdson, it shows me the feelings of the women in the bed and it tells me her story is that she has had a hard life. I can feel like I’m in the photograph itself and that is an amazing thing all by itself. Parkeharrison, Muniz and Crewdson us all their own reality in their photographs. Parkeharrison, Muniz and Crewdson all do art photography as their photographs are mostly fictional and fantasy. 


By: Absan Semeter & Daniel Dos Santos


What happened to the photography? Is this its future?

In looking at all the different pictures of Sommer, Adams and Klett versus Parkeharrison, Muniz and and Crewdson, I noticed that  Sommer, Adams and Klett seemed to take a lot of photos of different landscapes, their photos were black and white photos and also the photos seem to not  be altered or as crisp and clear. Whereas Parkeharrison, Muniz and, and Crewdson’s photos are mostly all in colour, they are very crisp and clean colours in the photos, it looks to me like there could possibly be some alterations going on with the photos. So I think what is happening to photography is it is evolving like with most things that are affected by technology. With this new era of digital photos and photo altering software I think photography will never be the same. I think it also makes it easier for amateur photographers to be noticed. So do I think this is the future of photography? I would say yes it is, because I don’t think there is any way of stopping technology from affecting photography. I don’t think going back to film will be an option when we have access to digital photography and the option of altering photos to make them look better or how the photographer wants them to look.

By Mike Taurozzi

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.fredericksommer.org/index.php?category_id=11&gallery_id=126 
http://collections.mocp.org/info.php?page=0&v=1&s=Klett%2C+Mark&type=browse&t=objects&f=maker&d=
http://www.matthewmarks.com/artists/robert-adams/selected-works/#/images/8/
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieZX7lh5STINqyFDSUdGfyHBnE5-dUrNOvqz4na3W4rViSr2UnZcwWDKGF2Cn6vAw6CPrCsN3p9uQv9YKF0n4lO7pHAArwwb8JOihXN1h2P-urWskzfzpwQiTPqAPnVKjxf1FoMfD9SaI/s400/gregorycrewdson.jpg
http://thefunambulistdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/robert-and-shana-parkeharrison03.jpg
http://www.aperture.org/exposures/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/fba1155490_mother_and_children_suellen_1.jpg
http://www.aperture.org/crewdson/

National Press Photographer Association. (2011). Code of Ethics. Retrieved Nov 21^st, 2011, from http://www.nppa.org

In Liquid. (2010). Photo Mannerism. Retrieved Nov 21^st, 2011, from http://www.inliquid.com

Matthew Marks Gallery. (2011). Robert Adams. Retrieved Nov 21^st, 2011, from http://www.matthewmarks.com